First Impression
by Megaman-NT-Warrior
Summary: "And one that I hope will go down in history." He stepped in front of the last boy, Cruella de Vil's son, their eyes met, he extended his hand and- His heart nearly stopped. Another wolf. (When Ben decided to bring children from the Isle of the Lost to school he never, ever, thought he'd meet another werewolf.)
1. First Impression

**First Impression**

The nerves didn't hit him until he was standing out on the grassy courtyard waiting for the limo to arrive. This had been his idea, something he was sure he'd thought through completely. This was what was best, was best for the school, the kingdom, and certainly best for his peers he was bringing off the Isle of the Lost.

He'd fought for this and he wasn't about to back down now.

It had been almost a month, twenty-two days, since the proclamation that brought them here, since he'd been allowed (forced) to announce his intentions to the school. Not that he minded, yelling down stuck up princes was one of the few pleasures his position allowed him to enjoy. And after his parents… Well, the students would always be the easier option.

 _"Dad, their children are innocent. Don't you think they deserve a shot at a normal life?" He'd practiced it in the mirror, every reason, every rebuttal they might come up with. He'd prepared for this. "Dad?"_

 _"Ben, what if they're not…" His father's lips pressed into a tight line and he shot a look at his wife that made Ben's stomach flop._

 _"Human?" He's asked, eyes narrowing. So he should have expected that question but not really, he hadn't thought they'd go for that low a blow. "If that's your only reason for not having them then I'll go pack my bags. Maybe it was foolish of me to think I could go to a real school." He shook his foot from the tailor's grip and moved to storm past them only to be jerked back by his father's grip on his arm._

 _"Benjamin!" There was a growl to his father's words, one that pulled a snarl from him before he could even decide to react. "Don't you walk away from us. They're not going to be like you."_

 _"There's no magic on the island Ben, nothing to prepare them for what it will be like surrounded by it or how it could affect them." His mother took her husband's arm, one hand sliding down his wrist to soothe him, and she set her other hand on her son's shoulder. "If they are… what you suspect, who knows how they will react?"_

 _"They deserve a chance," Ben said firmly, meeting her eyes instead of his father's. "And if they do have magic they deserve a chance to know who they are. Not locked away under a barrier for crimes that happened long before they were born. No one should live like that." She flinched and he almost felt badly except it made her turn to look at his father with a look at would have been pleading if he hadn't known better; if he hadn't known that it was as calculated as his words had been and it made his father relent, just enough._

 _"I suppose their children_ are _innocent."_

The limo slid to a halt in front of him, breaking him from his thoughts. He smoothed his hands down the front of his suit and took a deep breath; the air smelled of tension, from himself, from those behind him, and even from the outwardly calm limo driver who was making his way around to the passenger side door. And under that, under the smell of sun warmed grass, the sour of the limo's exhaust, and the _humans_ packed around him, was something else. Something sharp and wonderful and distinctly _other_.

They're here.

That's what settles it, the nervous fluttering in his stomach. All the scents, jumbled over each other and impossible to pin point to one person or another as the four teens pile out the back. And _pile_ is more literal than anything, everyone seemed to want to be the first one out of the limo, even to the point of knocking the youngest flat on his back outside the door. He saw Fairy Godmother wince from the corner of his eye just before she stepped forward to begin her welcome speech.

"And as I always say, 'don't focus on the past or you'll miss the future'," she was saying when he finally tuned into her words, just as she turned to him, arm outstretched towards him. He stepped away from Audrey to stand beside Fairy Godmother, his smile far less forced than hers.

"It's so good to finally meet you all. I'm Ben."

"Prince Benjamin. Soon to be king." Everyone turned towards Audrey, her arm slipped around his and he was suddenly overwhelmed by the scent of her perfume. The chemical smell of fake flowers and lavender oil that was all at once both nauseating and overpowering and he had to resist the urge to wrinkle his nose against it.

Instead he stepped forward again and the girl in blue met him halfway.

"You had me at prince," she said, dropping into a shallow curtsey and he caught her hand to press it against his lips. A scent wafting off her skin undercut Audrey's perfume; the smell of earth and tree and, most of all, apples. "My mom's a queen, which makes me a princess."

"The Evil Queen has no royal status here and neither do you." He didn't quite wince at Audrey's tone but he did step away from the girl when Audrey pulled at the back of his jacket, despite the way Evie's smile fell at her words.

"This is Audrey," Ben said, attempting at a diplomatic tone, even as Audrey latched onto his hand again.

"Princess Audrey. His girlfriend. Right Bennyboo?" There was something wrong about being relieved when Fairy Godmother pushed between him and Audrey, something he didn't want to think about too hard, not right now.

The wind changed, shifted direction just enough, and there it was, the smell of rain and magic, something that he recognised from Fairy Godmother but… _darker_ , layered with ash and- It had to be her, could only be her, Maleficent's daughter Mal. A faerie just like her mother and a stupid, out of control smile curled his lips.

"It is so good to finally meet you," he said as soon as Fairy Godmother left them alone and stepped away from Audrey to approach Jafar's son; taking in his defensive posture and the muted undertones of scent coming off of him. Sand, smoke, softer than Mal's ash but there all the same, and under that the sting of brass. His eyes flicked down, just for a moment, and caught sight of a scratched up lamp strapped to the boy's hip. Without magic on the island, Jay might not have even known why it was so important for him to bring it with him.

"This is a momentous occasion." Jay had avoided his offer of a handshake but Mal didn't, taking his hand in a grip a little too hard to be friendly, even as her lips twisted into a soft smile. She was all sharp green eyes and raw magic, magic she probably hasn't even realized yet.

"And one that I hope will go down in history." He stepped in front of the last boy, Cruella de Vil's son, their eyes met, he extended his hand and- His heart nearly stopped.

Another wolf.

Ben took a deep breath, then another one. His heart raced in his ears and he swallowed hard, attempting to make some sort of coherent sound; anything at all really, anything that wasn't him staring dumbfounded at the other boy. But it was hard to think, to process anything outside of _wolf_ and _pack_ and _just like me_.

He was saved by Mal, of all people, pointedly clearing her throat in a way that drew everyone's attention back to her.

"As the day our two peoples began to heal," he said, almost too quickly, and cleared his throat as discreetly as possible.

"Or the day that you showed four people where the bathrooms are," Mal said with a sharp edge to her voice and she stepped between them, forcing Ben back a few steps.

"A little bit over the top?" He didn't miss the protective hand she laid on her friend's arm, the way the three of them closed ranks around him. He took another step back and lowered his hands to his sides.

"A little more than a little bit." If he'd thought he'd imagined her tone before it was unmistakeable now. Meaning, _back off or else_.

"Well, so much for my first impression."

* * *

After the meeting it wasn't until late that night that he was able to get a moment alone; between Audrey, Fairy Godmother, and an impromptu meeting with his parents it was after curfew when he ended up sneaking his way up to his dorm. One of the 'perks' of the royal suite being right next to the headmistress's room.

A better one was the balcony.

It was getting to that time of year where the nights were just starting to get cool and the stone railing was cold under his hands. The moon was out, high over the academy walls, far from full but beautiful all the same. It made the courtyard fountain silver, glinted off the statue of his father at the entrance, and bathed the whole school in a ghostly, pale light.

He turned around to place his back against the railing, leaning back against it, and let his head fall back to stare at the sky. He took a deep breath; after being surrounded by Audrey's perfume all day it was too good to finally get some fresh air. The night was quiet, peaceful.

His eyes slipped shut and a howl tore from his throat.

Tonight wasn't a night for peace and quiet, it was a night for celebration. Even if he was the only one to celebrate.

"Benjamin!" His howl trailed off into laughter, despite the sharp knocking on his door a moment later. His head spun and he sighed before walking back over to his door.

"Fairy Godmother, did you need something?" He pulled his best press conference smile as he swung open the doors. She wasn't smiling, or maybe she thought she was but the expression was pulled so tight it couldn't really be called one. Her hand was still raised to knock again.

"It is well past curfew, young man. You should be in bed, not-" She paused and he knew she wouldn't say it, no one ever did. No one, ever, wanted to admit that their crown prince liked to howl at the moon. "Causing such a ruckus."

"I'm just excited, I'm not causing a-" The words caught in his throat, his heart pounded in his chest, and he watched the colour drain from Fairy Godmother's face.

There was another howl, from the courtyard door. A little softer, more hesitant, but absolutely still there. He all but ran to the balcony door, hand scraping against the glass. The call was short, over almost before he could really enjoy listening to it, and he heard the quick snap of a window being shut a moment later. His knees were shaking, almost too much to turn back around, his cheeks hurt from how much he was smiling, and-

Fairy Godmother looked furious.

"Lights out, Highness. It's time for bed."


	2. And Then I'll Have Questions

Hi guys! I can't believe the response I got for the last chapter, I'm so glad you guys liked it and I hope you enjoy this one.

The way I've planned this fic is more of a series of connected oneshots set in roughly chronological order. Though I may jump around a bit depending on the story.

This one is set somewhere after our villain kids try to get the wand from the museum but before they find out about the coronation. No pairings, just a lot of cuddly friends.

* * *

 **And Then I'll Have Questions**

Frantic pounding woke Mal in the middle of the night. Moonlight peaked through the shut curtains of her and Evie's room and the illuminated clock face on her side table told her it was almost three in the morning. Far too early for someone to be knocking on her door.

She snatched the spell book from her side table; she probably wouldn't be able to do any actual magic while half asleep, or have it be anywhere near effective if she tried, but she was certainly intent on _threatening_ whoever was on the other side of the door with magic. The pounding continued as she got to her feet and the dim light was just enough for her to see Evie start to stir. Damn, if they woke Evie they would have hell to pay.

"What the hell do you- Jay?" Jafar's son stood braced in the doorframe, chest heaving, and one hand still raised to continue knocking. He looked paler than she had ever seen him and there were what appeared to be several long scratches down the side of his face. "What happened to you?"

"I- I don't know. Something's really wrong with…" He was gasping, flustered, and ran a hand through his hair. "I don't know what to do."

Mal found herself at a loss for words; Jay was the steady one, slick and composed even in the worst of the scrapes they'd gotten themselves into back on the Isle. He wasn't even afraid of _her mother_. If something was scaring him then- Wait.

"Something's wrong with what? And where's Carlos?" Something twisted in her stomach, something about the expression in Jay's eyes or the way he kept shifting from one foot to the other. "Jay?"

"He was… He was having a nightmare and I tried to wake him up, I mean it's not the first time this has happened but…" He looked down, hand tightening on the doorframe. "Can you please just come before something happens?"

"Did he…" She raised her hand to almost touch his cheek and he flinched away. "Did Carlos-"

"Guys," a drowsy, half asleep, voice asked from the other side of the room. Evie sat up halfway, leaning back onto the heels of her hands, her hair falling in tangled waves she'd normally never let them see. "I thought the point of a school wide lights out was so it could be quiet for us to get some sleep. Go back to bed before we all end up in remedial goodness detention for breaking curfew."

"Evie you need to get up." Mal crossed over to the other girl's bed and shook her shoulder to try and wake her up fully. "Something's happened with Carlos and we need to go help."

"What?" _That_ certainly got her moving, Mal was nearly bowled over by a flurry of sheets and a fluffy blue housecoat. "What happened to Carlos?" Mal backed away as the other girl whirled towards Jay. "What did you do?"

"What did I do? He's the one who drew blood." Some of the colour had returned to Jay's face and he wasn't breathing as heavily as he had been. He gestured sharply for them to follow before he ducked back out into the hallway. Mal took Evie's arm and tugged her along to follow before she could ask any more questions.

The door to Jay and Carlos' room was shut when they arrived and instead of opening it Jay pressed his ear to the wood to listen. Even without being that close, Mal could hear the sound of someone moving around the room; a thump of a book falling over, the muffled sound of footfalls on the dorm carpet, and something that sounded and awful lot like-

"Is that _growling_?" Evie's voice sounded more scandalized than anything and Jay lunged for her when she went to grab for the doorknob.

"Evie, wait-"

"No, don't 'Evie wait' me. You left my best friend locked in your room with a wild animal that did _that_ to your face! So don't tell me that I'm not going in there." She pushed past him and Mal could only shrug when Jay shot her a helpless look. There was no point in stepping between Evie and a decision, especially when it came to Carlos.

As it turned out, she only got the door open a few inches.

On the other side of the door was a snarling grey wolf and before Evie could react as it lunged at them, Mal reached around and snapped the door shut. She jumped when the beast hit the other side of the door, the impact vibrated through the thick wood and was followed by another snarl, louder and deeper than the first.

"How did a _wolf_ get in your bedroom?"

"That's what I was trying to tell you; he's not a wolf, he's-"

"Children!" The three of them whirled around and froze the moment they caught sight of Fairy Godmother striding down the hallway towards them. "I thought I heard a commotion. What on earth are you three doing out of bed at this time of night? I thought I was very clear on my rules for curfew."

"You did, we were just…" Evie started, wringing her hands, and even her smile faltered against the stern crease to Fairy Godmother's lips.

"You should be just heading back to bed. In your own rooms. Come along ladies, let's let Jay and- What happened to you? Were you fighting?" She'd caught sight of Jay's cheek and he quickly set a hand against it to hide the scratches.

"No, I just- Um…" Mal shot him her most withering glare; Evie had never been good at outright lying but Jay, the one they could always count on for a quick alibi or a crazy story to get out of trouble when they got caught, had _nothing_ to say? Unbelievable. The last thing they needed was to get kicked out their first week, they still needed to plan a way to get that wand.

"What's going on? Why is everyone up in the middle of the night?" Oh, great, just what they needed, Mal thought. Coming down the hallway from the same direction Fairy Godmother had come from was soon-to-be-King Prince Benjamin, wearing royal blue pajamas she was pretty sure had a little gold crown stitched onto the breast pocket.

Fairy Godmother didn't get her chance to ask Ben why he was out of bed this late or pressure Jay about the scratches down his face; all their attention was caught by another round of snarling from inside the dorm room. Fairy Godmother paled and Ben took a few, short steps towards them. Then she did something Mal would have never expected; instead of looking at one of them for the answer, she looked at Ben. And that sleepy half smile he'd had when he found them all out after curfew had turned distinctly sheepish and maybe a little… guilty?

What the hell?

"Fine but if you five are not back in your own beds in twenty minutes, I'm getting your father and he will be dealing with this. Understood?" It was the sternest Mal had ever seen their headmistress, from the firm set to her lips and the tight way she strode away from them; leaving the four teenagers standing together in the hallway. Ben's smile fell, the moment she left, and he started towards the door.

"I need to see him." Mal's shoulder brushed Jay's as the both moved closer to the door, shielding it, almost in synch, just as Evie took a step back towards it as well.

"We're fine, really Ben. You heard Fairy Godmother, we all need to be back in our own rooms or she'll tell the king on us. So, run along," Mal said quickly as she whirled around to face the door again.

"Mal, no, you don't understand." Okay, so maybe she shouldn't have shooed the prince but this budding argument was starting to get on her nerves. She was just about to turn back around, tell him exactly _who_ didn't understand when it came to Carlos, when a sound from inside caused her to freeze.

A strained, crunching sound of old wood giving way, then, a crash of broken glass.

Ben pushed past them with little effort and pulled the door open the door. The room was a mess; the sheets and pillows torn to shreds, claw marks all up the walls and deep into the back of the wooden door. Then there was the window, frame bent and twisted from an impact, the glass hopelessly shattered and stained with…

"He's bleeding." Evie made a beeline for the window, Ben at her heels, and he caught her wrist when she reached out to touch one of red stained shards. Blood wasn't something new to them, not growing up on the Isle of the Lost, and not to Carlos most of all. But Mal knew, in these recent few years, Carlos would always, _always_ , go to Evie to get patched up. Evie, with her steady hands and clean bandages.

Ben leaned around Evie, closer to the glass but not touching it, before abruptly shoving the rest of the window from the wall, it landed on the grass with a soft hump.

"I can handle this," Ben said, though he wasn't looking at any of them as he said it and Mal got the impression that the prince was trying to convince himself more than anything. He finally threw a look over his shoulder at them. "You guys stay here, in case he comes back.

And before they could say or do anything else, he was gone, hopped from the window and was running off into the night.

Mal and Jay both ran to Evie's side at the window, Mal giving the other girl's hand what she hoped was a reassuring squeeze. Evie took in a deep breath and turned to Jay.

"What happened?" She asked, more calmly this time, and Jay didn't flinch away from her when she reached for him. "You said it wasn't a wolf."

Jay grimaced and turned away from them, staring out the window.

"He was having a nightmare, so I tried to wake him up. You know how it is. And…" He braced both hands against the window frame and Mal resisted the urge to smack him to get the rest of the story out. "It's not a wolf… It's Carlos."

Evie's jaw dropped and Mal actually hit him.

"Pardon me?" Not possible, shapeshifting was magic and Carlos certainly wasn't magic. He had no spell book, no history of magic, no… "What?"

"I don't know what you want to hear Mal. How much more specific can I be? One minute I'm trying to wake him up, the next I'm trying to stop a wild animal from clawing off my face." His hands were nearly white where he was clutching the window frame and the light from the room illuminated the cuts on the side of his face. "It was like he didn't know me."

Mal bit her lip and in a moment made her decision; she hopped up onto the window sill and swung her legs over the side.

"I'm going out there, one of us has to. You two stay here," she said quickly and Evie caught her elbow just as she was about to drop to the grass below. "Don't try to stop me, I don't care what Ben says, Carlos is our friend and suddenly a wolf or not I'm not going to let anything happen to him."

"It's cold out," Evie said and she shrugged out of her housecoat before draping it over Mal's shoulders. "And… Be safe."

"Of course I'll be safe; it's Carlos, he's never hurt anyone." She rolled her eyes when Jay pointed to the side of his face. "You don't count, you rough house him all the time, it's about time he got a shot in edgewise. You know we've all had worse. I need to go now or I won't be able to catch up to Ben. And we need answers."

"You think _Ben_ can tell you what's going on?"

"It doesn't bother either of you that he didn't seem _surprised_ to hear aggressive growling coming from your dorm room? Of course I think he knows what's going on. And he's going to tell me one way or another."

She dropped to the ground and started off in the direction she'd been Ben run to; right into the forest bordering the school. Of course, it had to be a forest. Navigating a city, that's what she was good at, over and through rundown buildings was the only experience she'd been able to get on the Isle and dense trees were far out of her usual realm.

But it was quiet and how hard could it really be to find a prince wandering around in the forest?

(She pointedly ignored the voice in her head that sounded suspiciously like Carlos that pointed out that Ben had probably grown up in this forest and knew it far better than she did.)

In the end she didn't find either of them; Carlos found her.

She was walking down a dirt path, turned silver and green in the moonlight filtering through the trees, when a low, warning growl made her freeze in her tracks. She turned, slowly, and finally got a look at this wolf.

His fur was gray, silver and shining in the dim light. His lips were pulled back in a snarl, body held low to the ground, a stance she didn't need to be an expert in wolf behaviour to know was meant to be defensive. There was a dark streak across his flank, fur matted and brown.

Blood. Drying blood from where he'd cut himself.

"Hey… Carlos…" Her brow furrowed and she let out a slow breath. "It's still kind of weird to think that you're now a wolf but… You can turn back into a person right? Cause we have way too much to worry about right now with the wand and taking over the world to be one man down and taking care of a dog."

She jumped back when a snarl tore through his throat, ears flat against his head, teeth snapping at her.

"Right, no d-word, that's your thing, I forgot." She took a couple steps backwards. "Okay, Carlos, you need to listen to me, cause-"

"Mal." She didn't look, didn't look away from the wolf in front of her, even as she felt Ben step up beside her. She didn't realise she was shaking until he set his hand on her arm, his touch warm and steady.

"What do we do?" Her voice didn't shake but she didn't protest when he stepped in front of her. "Ben?"

"Just… Stay behind me," Ben said, his voice steady and a calm smile on his face and he turned away from her.

And Ben stayed calm, a lot calmer than she could have expected, even when the Carlos wolf started to snarl and bark again when he deemed Ben to be much too close. But he didn't back down, creeping slowly forward, keeping one hand out stretched and his head tilted to the side. His steps were careful, stepping toe to heel, never in a straight line. His bare feet made no sound on the dirt path and he'd hiked up his pajama pants so they didn't drag.

The way Ben was approaching Carlos, it was familiar somehow, like she'd seen it before.

Wait.

It was the way Harriett had approached Sabor, that night the leopard had prowled a little too close to the centre of town. Slow, low enough to not be a threat, and circling to be less of a target.

Except Ben didn't have his father's hook behind his back ready to strike.

Mal's heart hammered in her throat, she was sure they could hear it. The sound filled her ears, all but drowning out the soft noises Ben was making in an attempt to be soothing. They looked like they were working, Ben had made it to striking distance without being bit or lunged at.

She bit back a gasp when Ben reached out and made contact, a soft touch of fingertips against the uninjured flank. Carlos shied away with a warning growl but he didn't go far. Ben took another step forward and sank to his knees so they were eye level.

"It's okay, I'm not going to hurt you."

"Carlos," Mal said, his ears flicked and he turned up to look at her. His eyes were blue instead of their normal deep brown; luminous and brilliant in the dim light. A high whine pulled from his throat.

"Easy there, it's okay, it's just Mal." She took a few steps forward, mimicking Ben's movement to get a little closer. That whine again, a whine that sounded more pained than angry. Ben had one arm draped around Carlos' back, hand rubbing circles into his fur. "It's alright, we're here to help. You know Mal, she's your friend. You remember her, right? And Evie and Jay. Just take a deep breath and think about them. Come back to them."

She took a few more steps towards them when Ben's other hand came up to beckon her closer, her eyes never left Carlos'. She saw them shift from bright blue back to brown, watched him sag sideways into Ben, and-

And then Ben was holding Carlos in his arms; human, disoriented, and hiccupping with the strength of the sobs that shook through him.

"Carlos."

"Shh, it's okay, you're alright now." Mal ran forward, pulling off Evie's housecoat to throw around his shoulders when she reached them. Carlos was shaking but whether it was from the cold, exhaustion, or something else Mal couldn't know. Ben didn't let go of him, holding him close, using his other hand to wipe away the tears. "You're okay, just take deep breaths."

"I- Jay, he-"

"Jay's fine, it was just a scratch. I'm worried about you right now." Carlos' eyes flicked up to meet Mal's, gaze questioning. She set one of her hands on his back, just to stop it from shaking, and felt him lean back into the touch.

"He'll be fine." The words come awkward and stilted; there wasn't a lot of room for sympathy or comfort on the Isle, not a lot of chances to practice being comforting.

Ben on the other hand…

He tugged the coat closer around Carlos, his free hand looping the ties around Carlos' waist to keep it secure. His other arm never left Carlos' hips, keeping him close. And from the way Carlos was curling up against him he didn't seem to mind the concern.

But it was the look on Ben's face that really caught her.

No one, ever, looked that way on the Isle, not even around Carlos who brought out the protective instinct in most of his peers. Everything about Ben's expression was soft, gentle, and entirely focused on Carlos.

Though, from what she had seen so far, maybe it wasn't possible for Ben not to look kind.

"But what-"

"It's okay. We can talk about it in the morning," Ben said, his voice so low that Mal, even kneeling right next to them, had to strain to hear him. "Don't worry about it for tonight."

"Let's get you back to bed," Mal agreed, reached forward to squeeze Carlos' arm and he nodded slowly at her from where his head had fallen against Ben's shoulder. His eyelids drooped and, when he made no attempt to stand on his own. Ben let out a small puff of laughter before scooping Carlos fully into his arms and standing himself.

Mal had to smile, Carlos was too used to Jay picking him up to even protest.

"What about…" Mal started, after they were halfway up the path. She took a quick glance at Carlos, just to make sure he was as sleep as his silence let on. "The boys' room is kind of…"

"We'll get it cleaned up in the morning. Carlos can have my bed for tonight, I'll take the couch."

"You have a couch in your dorm room?"

"One of the perks of being the prince." So maybe it was possible for Ben to look smug. No, not smug, his expression was more teasing than anything. Still kind, open. And he laughed again when she scrunched her nose at it.

"I thought we were all supposed to be back in our own rooms? Or is breaking the rules another perk of being the prince?" She tried for a stern expression but ended up laughing along with him. "And they call us villains." She held the door open for him when they reached the school and followed him up to a hallway they hadn't gotten around to exploring yet.

"I know it's too much," Ben said quickly, the moment she opened the doors to the room he said was his. "It's way too big for one person."

It _was_ big. If she had to guess, she'd say that it was about the same size as many of the houses back on the Isle. It even had a balcony with grand double doors; just like the castle she'd grow up in, well, up until her mother had broken them in a fit of rage. She turned to face him again just in time to watch Ben lay Carlos on the side of the bed before disappearing into the bathroom. He returned with an armful of bandages and a bottle of something she assumed as antiseptic.

Mal pulled herself up onto the bed on the opposite side of Carlos. He was still sleeping soundly, even when Ben jostled the housecoat off his shoulder to tend to the long slices across his skin. They didn't look deep, not nearly deep enough for the amount of blood she'd seen on his fur and that had soaked through Evie's housecoat.

"He's healing," Ben's voice was quiet and when she looked up she met his eyes. "He'll be alright."

"Can I ask you something?"

"Of course. Ask away."

"How did you…" Her nose wrinkled and she puffed up her cheeks to give her a moment longer to think of what she really wanted to ask. "You didn't even seem surprised. You- It was like you _knew_ he was…"

"You didn't?" And that open expression was back, all wide hazel eyes and parted lips.

"Know that Carlos turns into a wolf? No!" Her voice raised and she took a deep breath in through her nose to keep from screaming. Of course she didn't. "This has never happened before, people don't just turn into…" Animals, she was going to say animals. But that wasn't exactly true. Her mother could but that was… "Magic. You think Carlos is magic?"

"Not exactly," Ben said, fingers dragging slowly across the tape he laid on the end of the last bandage. "Sometimes it's magic, like it was for my father, sometimes it's something else. No one really knows how to explain it. At least, no one has when I ask."

There was something about what he had said or how he had said it, she couldn't quite put her finger on it. Then-

"Your father. Does that mean…" She paused, heart thumping, not sure what she actually wanted to ask. Better to be upfront about it, right? "You weren't surprised about Carlos because you're…"

Their eyes met and when he blinked those hazel eyes went gold. Just for a moment and he looked away quickly, back down at Carlos, a small smile on his face.

"I may have been a little selfish, when I chose who I wanted to invite from the Isle of the Lost." He was blushing, his explanation a little hesitant as if he was embarrassed by the admission. But he didn't sound sorry in the least. "Your mother, she's the most famous faerie in the kingdom, the Evil Queen and Jafar, they're magic, and I just…" He looked up at her, eyes serious and lips twisted. "There aren't a lot of people left in Auradon who are… More than human. And no one at school. I guess I just… I wanted to be around people who were more like me."

"And Carlos?" He ducked his head again and didn't stop the smile that spread across his face. He still hadn't moved his hand from where it rested on Carlos' arm.

"I never thought that…" He coughed, not looking back up at her. "I didn't know about Carlos before the four of you stepped out of that limo. Meeting another wolf has been…" He looked up and away from her, staring out the window instead. When he spoke he was quieter than she had ever heard him. "More than I ever thought I'd have."

"He's lucky to have you," she said, without really thinking about it. He jerked around to stare at her so quickly it made her jump. "I mean, to have someone who can explain things to him. When he wakes up. Since he'll have questions that we really can't answer."

It made him smile again, why did that please her so much?

"I'll do my best. But for now, we should get some sleep. I won't be much help to anyone if I'm too tired to stand tomorrow."

He was just about to get up off the bed when there was a rattling sound of someone at the door. Ben moved like lightning and before Mal could blink on of his hands was on the bed between her and Carlos, a protective stance over the younger boy.

She was caught up staring at him, the harsh crease in his brow, so unusual in his normally soft features, that she didn't notice who was coming in through the door. Then, faster even than the expression had appeared, it was gone, replaced by a soft smile.

When she turned Mal had to bite back a gasp, the Queen was standing in the doorway.

"Just this once," Belle said quietly even though there was something sly and delighted in her eyes. "Rules are rules, even for you."

Then she pushed open the door a little farther and ushered Evie and Jay inside.

Evie rushed to the bed the moment she entered and hopped up onto it so she was laying on Carlos' other side, Mal was sure she had no idea she'd dislodged Ben's position as she did it. Even more surprising was that he let her, sliding off the edge of the bed to stand beside it. Jay lingered around the door as Belle shut it behind her until Mal gestured him closer.

"Is he alright?" Jay asked as he kicked off his boots at the door and sat behind Mal.

"Yes," she said, meeting Ben's eyes and matching his quiet smile. "And Ben's going to tell us everything we need to know. In the morning."

"Of course. But for now we need to get some sleep, it's been a long night," Ben said from the corner of the room where he was pulling an extra blanket and pillow from a small cupboard. Mal frowned at his back before looking down to meet Evie's eyes where she'd hooked her chin over Carlos' shoulder. A small smile, a nod, before Evie snuggled closer to Carlos and shut her eyes to sleep.

"It's stupid," she said quickly, before she changed her mind. "You giving up your bed for complete strangers." Ben whirled, eyebrows creasing in the centre of his brow, and she smirked at him before laying down flat on the other side of Carlos. "You've got a pretentiously large bed, _your highness_. There's plenty of room for all of us."

She heard Evie pat the bed on her other side and a few moments deliberation later the bed dipped with his weight.

"But you keep your hands to yourself, I'm a princess," Evie said, without even looking back at Ben as he stretched out beside her. "No funny business."

"I wouldn't dream of it."

Mal bit her lip to keep from laughing; as Evie settled back, her arm curling around Carlos' chest, a pleased smile on her lips.

Jay settled down behind Mal, folding one arm under his head to act as a pillow (they both knew Evie would steal all the actual pillows in the middle of the night, she always did) and lay so she could lean back into his chest if she wanted. He huffed out a breath and she reached back to smack him when it tickled her ear.

"Your hair's in my face, here." He shifted and used his free hand move her hair. His fingers brushed her neck and she felt it, the barest spark of magic. Like when she touched her mother's spell book for the first time off the Isle.

She took a deep breath and tried to relax. She needed to sleep, everything was changing and she had a lot of questions.

Morning came too early, in the form of Audrey's shrieking when she walked in to find her precious _Bennyboo_ curled up in bed with four other people.


	3. The Apple Doesn't Fall Far

Hey guys, sorry for such a late update, I definitely wanted this out way earlier than this. Thank you everyone for all your wonderful reviews and I hope you enjoy this chapter.

I just have two quick notes before this chapter:

1\. I recognise that I'm playing a little fast and loose with the timeline here and I'm hoping to get back on track with the film's timeline with future chapters (this chapter is set roughly either right before the Family Day fiasco _or_ after the film when things are starting to settle, I haven't quite decided so you guys can take your pick) but I did originally intend this fic as a series of vaguely related oneshots in the same universe so please forgive my shoddy timeline.

That being said, this fic will continue being updated with new in-universe oneshots while any plots that are going to be substantially longer are going to be posted as separate multi-chapter fics. I think that will be the best way to cut down on confusion and time hopping.

2\. Shipping. So I've gotten a couple reviews requesting ships and my answer to them is both yes and no. The way I want to write this story is focused on multiple relationships and the relationships between our five main characters and the pairings are going to be changing a lot. Which means, yes you may see the ships you're looking for sometimes but don't expect them every time. I will tag each chapter with which ships are in each chapter.

So for this chapter, it can either be read as a friendship fic or as a Mal/Evie romance.

And again, thank you for reading, thank you so much for all the lovely reviews, and I hope you enjoy.

* * *

 **The Apple Doesn't Fall Far**

"Benjamin thinks that my father was an apple."

"That's not exactly what he said." Mal's eyes flicked up from her sketch book as the picnic table rocked slightly when Evie and Doug took seats opposite her. Evie wasn't looking at her; glaring instead at the bright red apple in her hand, pink painted lips pulled down in a pout. Doug on the other hand was looking at her, alternating glances between her and Evie that looked more imploring than she had ever seen him.

And of course they had come to her.

"Fine, I'll bite. What _did_ Ben say about your father?"

"Well, from what Ben has… noticed," Doug began, slowly and Evie cut him off with a roll of her eyes.

"What he means is from what Ben and Carlos have _smelt_ with their freaky werewolf senses," she said, pursing her lips at Doug when he looked like he was going to protest. Then she turned back to Mal. "Also, when did it become normal for us to use words like _werewolf_?"

Mal glanced down at her sketchbook and couldn't help the small smile that crossed her face.

"Just add it to the growing list of things the magic of Auradon has brought out in us." She flipped up the sketchbook to show them the picture she'd been working on. She'd caught the boys snoozing in the late afternoon sun; Jay stretched out in the grass, his hat covering his face, Carlos curled up against his side, and Ben draped over both their legs.

It had the right effect on Evie. Carlos happy always did. The frown softened and nearly turned into a smile.

"So what is it that Ben and Carlos have smelled? If it's you smelling like flowers all the time, I could have told you that."

"Ben's more specific than that, actually," Doug said, setting a large, leather bound book between them. He flipped through to a page marked with a worn bookmark and pointed to one entry.

"What's a _dryad_?"

"It's an old myth, they're tree spirits. Well, technically the word refers to the spirits of oak trees in particular but it's come to mean any kind of tree spirit. It's what Ben thinks Evie might be. And from what I've been able to read about them… Tied to nature, eyes for detail, incredible beauty. It all fits." Mal resisted the urge to roll her eyes, his crush was cute but flattery could be laid on a little too thick, even when it came to Evie. But she was still smiling and for now that was good enough for Mal.

"Okay, I already know I'm beautiful, thank you, but that all seems pretty general. You could say the same thing about the faeries," Evie said, throwing a quick look at Mal that made her stomach flop a little and she ducked back down to look at her drawing. "So if Ben thinks he's onto something with his nose, what flower did he say I smell like?"

"That's the thing, it's not a flower." Doug paused a moment, looking at the both of them as if he expected them to jump in and guess the answer. When they didn't he sighed dramatically and gave them a smile that made Evie smack his shoulder. "Ben says it's apple blossoms."

"So Ben thinks Evie's father was the spirit of an apple tree?" Mal asked, tapping the end of her pencil on a blank spot on her page. "The problem with your theory is that, to the best of my knowledge, there's no one on the Isle like that. Nature spirits don't exactly scream 'I'm an evil mastermind, please exile me to the Isle of the Lost'. And it's not like any of us were born _before_ the banishment."

"Exactly, so then I did a bit more research. Well… I asked my aunt."

"Your aunt?" Evie said, nose scrunching. "You mean Snow White? Why would she know anything about me?"

"Well, she is kind of your step-sister." More nose scrunching and Mal was sure Evie was going to hit him again. "More importantly, she knows as much as any of the royals, probably more, about your mother and her exile. And what she was allowed to take with her to the Isle."

"Like her mirror," Evie said, pulling it from her bag and running her fingers along the outside of the frame. "All her beauty supplies and a couple of dresses. There wasn't anything else."

"It was a lot more than beauty supplies the way Aunt Snow tells it. Knowing that magic wouldn't work on the Isle, she didn't see anything wrong with allowing the Evil Queen to take her alchemy trunk with her. And… And she also took her apple tree. Aunt Snow arranged to have it transplanted into her garden. To have something of home."

"But that's not…" Evie frowned again. "That's not right. There wasn't an apple tree in our garden. There weren't any trees at all on the Isle. Our gardens had shrubs and whatever flowers we could grow in the soil. No trees."

"Actually, from what I've read," Doug said, cowing slightly under the stares he was getting from both Evie and Mal at the admission. "There may have been enough magic in her supplies to cast one, small, spell. Not enough to do any damage to the barrier or anything but enough to-"

"Turn a tree into a person? Right," Mal scoffed, shaking her head before she went back to her drawing. "Having attempted transfiguration from my book; it takes a lot of magic to even turn an inanimate object into a different inanimate object let alone turn a living tree into a living person capable of fathering a child." She looked back at Doug and fixed him with her sternest look. "And where's he been for the last sixteen years then? Do you have any idea how crazy that sounds?"

"You're right, turning a tree into a person permanently would take an extraordinary amount of magic, I don't think anyone in Auradon has that kind of power. But doing it for…" He trailed off, not looking at either of them.

Mal sighed and made a circling gesture to try and get him to continue. "Come on Doug, spit it out. We don't have all day."

"It wouldn't have taken a lot of magic to do it for a couple of hours," he said, quickly and all in a rush.

"So what you're saying," Mal started, pointing her pencil in Doug's face and enjoying the recoil she got in response. She felt her cheeks start of heat up, they'd had some magic on the island? And no one said anything? "Is that, instead of saving the magic she had in order to figure out a way of getting them all _off_ the Isle of the Lost, the Evil Queen used it-"

"To have me," Evie said quietly and the rest of her rant died in Mal's throat. Evie wasn't looking at either of them, just staring at the apple in her hand. There was an expression on her face that Mal had never seen before, one that wasn't quite sad but wasn't happy either, and it was like she'd dumped Mal with ice water.

If the Queen had waited, seen if she could have used it to help the others off the island, Evie wouldn't be here. Without that one decision, that one selfish choice, she wouldn't have-

She bolted off the bench without really thinking about it, coming to sit next to Evie and throw her arms around the other girl. Evie jumped slightly, not expecting the contact, but leaned into the embrace either way. When she finally looked up at Mal she seemed to have composed herself and held up the apple between them.

"This could be my dad," her tone was too sarcastic to really take seriously and that was so like her, make a joke to distract from something difficult or startling or scary. It was something she learned from Carlos.

What would they have been, without Evie?

"I don't think that's how it works, E."

Her heart was pounding. She'd spent so much of her time on the island hating her, wanting her gone and punished and… And now the thought of her _not_ being there set an ache in her chest like she'd never known. She swallowed and Evie set her head on her shoulder.

"Uhh… Do you guys want me to leave you alone or something?" Both girls looked up at him, Evie still holding onto the apple.

"No, Doug, you don't have-"

"That'd be great, thanks. Bye Doug," Mal said, waving her fingers at him. He raised an eyebrow but otherwise didn't protest, sliding off of the bench and closing the book. Mal slammed a hand down on the cover the moment he went to pick it up. "But leave the book."

"We'll get it back to you, promise," Evie said and Mal was sure she was the only one who could tell how forced Evie's smile looked as Doug bid them farewell and began the trek back up to the school. "Mal, that was rude."

"He'll get over it." She pulled the book towards herself and flipped back open to the marked page. Her hands were shaking and she pressed her fingertips to the page to stop them, right over the fading illustration of a tree turning into a beautiful young woman. "So, a nymph. You think he's right?"

"Ben hasn't been wrong about us yet. Why would he be now?"

"Because it's fairly easy to be right about Carlos when he literally turns into a wolf when the moon is full or Jay with his lamp." She sighed and looked up into Evie's deep brown eyes. "What if he's not this time?"

"What's the harm if he's wrong?" Evie said, setting her hand on top of Mal's and straightening her back in a way that looked like she was steeling herself. "I don't know who my father was, Mom won't talk about him even to tell me not to talk about him like yours does. Maybe he was just some human with no magic at all, someone still on the island. Or maybe," she slid her hand off Mal's and set it one the wooden table. Mal was close enough, their shoulders were almost touching, and she felt the magic course down Evie's arm, like static on an old TV screen.

She lifted her hand and a perfect blue flower the same colour as her hair bloomed up from underneath it.

"Maybe he was special." She laughed and plucked up the flower, twirling it between her fingers. "I just figured out how to do this yesterday. It's not spell books and wands and enchanting people but-"

"Not _yet_ ," Mal said, taking the flower from Evie's hand and tucking it into the back of her v-braid. "When we first got here I could barely change someone's hair. And here you are already growing flowers out of table tops. We just need some more practice."

"And maybe someday we'll find out for sure who my father was."

Maybe someday, Mal thought as she pulled Evie closer and set her chin on top of her soft blue hair. She bit her lip instead of giving voice to her thoughts, how much she wanted to meet this mystery man, not just for Evie but to tell him how grateful she was, for him, for _Evie_ , for things she couldn't ever say out loud. Maybe someday.

Instead, she snatched the apple out of Evie's hand and took a bite.

"Apples have always been my favourite."

She let herself grin as the sound of Evie's laughter filled her ears.


	4. If Only

Hey everyone! I actually have a big update today, there's this chapter and I also have a new fic in the same AU posting tonight.

This chapter is set near the beginning of the film, right around when they're first starting their classes and before the love spell. It's a Pre-Mal/Ben.

The companion fic is called Diplomacy and Other Such Dangerous Games and you can find it on my profile. It's set about a year after the events of the film and is rated **M** for sexuality.

I hope you enjoy.

* * *

"I don't like how much time you've been spending with them."

"They're new to Auradon, they need someone to-"

"Show them around? You gave them Doug," Audrey snapped and he had to drop his pen when it cracked in his grip. She'd called him to her room to look over her refreshment plans for Family Day, he should have known it would never be that simple, not with all the recent changes. He could hear her pacing behind the desk chair, each tight click of her heels against the floor perfectly measured and even.

"Doug is one person, he can't be there all the time. What do you want me to do, turn them down when they have a question?"

"And does answering questions mean midnight sleepovers too? I'm not even allowed to do that."

"Nothing happened." There was no point in arguing, she just used the moment to take a breath and continue on like he hadn't spoken.

"They're _villains_ Bennyboo, they're not the kind of people you want to be associated with."

"Their _parents_ are villains. That's why I invited them here, remember? To give them a chance at a normal life. That's all I'm trying to do."

"But they're not normal." Audrey had stopped her pacing right behind him but it was her words that had the hair on the back of his neck rising, had his stomach tightening. He swallowed and half turned in the chair to look at her. "And you're the future king, you need to be around people like you."

"They are people like me." It came out before he could really think about the consequences of saying it and far louder than he intended. He was on his feet in a moment, hands clasped at his sides. It was impossible to read the look on Audrey's face, carefully blank as she stared at him. He took a deep breath in through his nose and crossed his arm over his chest. Now was as good a time as any to let the secret out.

Not like he'd ever been keen on hiding it in the first place.

"Audrey, I… You know those stories our parents used to tell us about people who can turn into animals. Who can…" His voice faltered, his throat going dry. It had been so much easier to tell Mal, Mal who suspected before he said anything, Mal who wasn't human just like him. "I'm magic. Like the kids from the Isle."

"Like your father used to be."

"In a way. I think that's where I got it from." Audrey sighed, ducked her head, and when she looked back up at him she was smiling, _grinning_ even, looking like everything suddenly made perfect sense. She closed the distance between them, slid her hands down his arms, unfolding them to take his hands. She looked so open, he could match her smile, why had he been nervous to tell her in the first place, this was _Audrey_ she was-

"If you're like your father then it's easy. We can just fix you."

He dropped her hands.

"Audrey. You can't fix me. I'm not broken." His heart pounded in his ears, his stomach felt like it had dropped out of his body, and he crossed his arms again, nails digging into his biceps. He could feel, physically _feel_ , the shift under his skin, clawing at him, to change, to run, to- "There is nothing wrong with me."

"Well you would think that Bennyboo, you're the one who's under the curse."

"I'm-" He swallowed and met her eyes, trying to be calm and impassive, the way his mother had taught him to be for the cameras at state events. He forced a passive smile, muscle memory starting to soothe his frantic heart. "Look Audrey, it's not a curse, I don't want-"

"Is that what _they've_ been telling you?" Her voice had taken a shrill undertone and his stomach flopped, the last thing he wanted to do was upset her. She laughed again but the sound was anything but happy. "Listen to me. Magic is dangerous, your dad outlawed it for a reason. And if they're encouraging it that makes them dangerous too."

"But why does magic have to be dangerous? There's more than just evil spells and curses in the world. There's good magic too. Your mother-"

"My mom was _cursed_ by an evil fairy! That girl's mother."

Everything suddenly felt very, very calm.

There was nothing, absolutely _nothing_ , he could say that would have any impact on this conversation.

"I'm sorry that I have upset you. I truly am." And when she didn't interrupt him again he dropped his shoulders and allowed himself to relax a bit. "But I am not- I'm not looking to change _what_ I am. Now, if you will excuse me, I should be going."

"Going where?"

"I have to prepare for tourney practice."

"Practice isn't for an hour yet." He was at the door before she tried to stop him, his back hit the doorframe when he pulled out of her touch.

"Audrey, please," he didn't know what he was asking for, he just had to get out of there, had to- "I'll see you later."

"Ben!"

* * *

He was already pulling off his jacket and shirt when he hit the treeline, hands shaking as he tried to fold them in a neat pile, nearly tripping over one leg of his pants in his haste to get out of them. He knew these woods, knew them better than _anyone_ , knew exactly where he could hide so no one would see him change. It didn't hurt anymore, didn't hurt to slip from one form to another, to hit the ground running and stretch his legs. The dirt was cool beneath his paws, the grass still wet from the morning dew, the smell of damp earth filled his lungs.

The wind shifted and he skidded to a halt, catching a new scent. The sharp, verdant scent of the faerie.

Mal.

He bolted to his left, towards the main path, planning on heading her off. Audrey had been right about one thing, he wanted to spend more time with them than anyone from Auradon. He ducked under a fallen tree, enjoying the scratch of bark through his fur and across his back, a few paces from the path, just close enough to see her.

He barked, once, to get her attention, before bounding forward.

She didn't even flinch, not the way Audrey would if he ever showed her his wolf.

She _grinned_.

His heart raced again, for an entirely different reason this time, felt _light_ in a way he hasn't in months, maybe years. He laughed, it came out in a soft chuffing bark that she must have found funny, her nose scrunched up and she turned her head away to laugh. He dug his claws into the dirt, hunched up his shoulders and wagged his tail, before he jerked his head to the side, towards the trees.

 _Come run with me_.

She glanced at the trees, off the path, and the next thing he knew she was bending to toe off her boots.

Then she took off, bare feet making no sound on the soft ground and he bolted after her; tracking on scent and the sharp laugher echoing back at him through the trees. She was faster than he expected her to be, fast enough to keep him on his toes. A flash of purple through the leaves and he darted forward, crossing over her path and letting her chase him for a while.

It shouldn't have come as a surprise when she tackled him to the ground.

Grass and dirt flew as they wrestled, a tangle of limbs and leaves, and they rolled down the hill leading back to the school, tumbling one over the other. At some point he'd shifted back, laughing as they came to a stop at the bottom of the hill, his back hit the ground, knocking the air from his lungs, her hands on his arms, her hair falling into his face. She looked like she was trying not to laugh, her cheeks flushed from the run.

"Pinned you."

"Yeah, you did. You win," he said quietly. She was smirking down at him and there was a warm flutter in his chest. He leaned back against the ground, a cool counter point to the heat of her hands on his skin, her knees against the sides of his hips. She was still looking him in the eyes, hadn't seemed to have noticed, "You know I'm naked, right?'

"You're-" Her eyes flicked down, her cheeks bloomed red, and he couldn't help the giggle that escaped him. She met his eyes again, looking like she was determined to not look anywhere but his face, the smirk had dropped completely from her lips. She made a sound that was halfway between shock and outrage, sharp and short. "Where are your clothes?"

"About five feet in that direction," he gestured with one hand as far as he could, still pinned flat on his back. The movement brought her attention to his hand and she seemed to just realise she was still holding him down. She rolled off him faster than he could blink and he bit his lip to keep from laughing again. She stood and faced away from him, arms crossed over her chest.

" _Why_ are you naked?"

"Because I can't exactly wear anything as a wolf and I wanted to go for a run." He stood and brushed the dirt off the backs of his legs before making his way over to where he'd hidden his clothes. He was just stepping into his boxers, "You don't have to be embarrassed, Mal. I'm the one who's-"

"I'm not emb-" He jumped when she cut off with another sharp sound and looked up to see her half turned towards him, wide eyed. He tugged his boxers the rest of the way up his hips, she huffed and turned back around. "I'm not embarrassed," she snapped and he watched the way her shoulders shrugged as she crossed her arms again.

But the real question was why wasn't _he_ embarrassed to be around her?

"You should probably go back first. If Audrey sees us coming out of the woods together, you all undressed and dishevelled with twigs in your hair," he ran a hand through his hair, almost self-consciously, liberating a couple of leaves and a twig and probably messing it further in the process. "She'll really have a fit and I don't need some prissy princess poking her nose into my business."

"Has she said something to you?"

"I just called your girlfriend a prissy princess and you didn't defend her. What happened, did Mr and Mrs Perfect Goodness have a fight?" His stomach jolted, but whether it was because he felt guilty over what happened with Audrey or because Mal had so easily lumped them in the same category he couldn't tell. So he stayed silent, settling for pulling on his slacks and shirt instead. From the corner of his eye he caught Mal glance over her shoulder at him. "You really had a fight? Huh, didn't know you had it in you."

"At will I can turn into a bloodthirsty animal, you don't think I'm capable of having argument?"

"Bloodthirsty, that's what you call that? 'Cause I remember someone with his butt in the air wagging his tail going 'come play with me Mal'." She was facing him properly again and had stepped closer so she could lean against a tree. "So you really _are_ a wolf then."

"What, did you think I could just do fancy tricks with my eyes?" He shrugged into his jacket and made a vain attempt at flattening his hair.

"What's it like?" He froze and looked up at her. She wasn't looking at him, her eyes trained on something to his side, her expression had turned inward, contemplative. "Turning into something else?"

"It hurt, a lot, when I was young and first trying. I tried to fight against it for a while, the whole 'ban on magic' thing. And that makes it worse." He toed into his shoes and kicked a rock into the underbrush. "But after that… Nothing's better. You just can't be afraid to go for it."

"I'm not afraid," she said it quietly, her expression tight and intense, meeting his eyes again. Then she smirked. "You going to turn me in for using magic, highness?"

"No," he laughed, ducking his head to get away from those piercing green eyes. "But be more careful or Audrey might. She's not happy with how you've been doing everyone's hair."

"Oh? Not her style?"

"Something like that." She shook her head and might have rolled her eyes. "We should go get your boots."

"I actually- I might have a spell for that." She pushed her sleeves up off her wrists and planted her feet. She glanced at him, a sharp movement that flopped her hair over her shoulder before she looked out into the forest. She cleared her throat, " _Now I demand, boots to my hand_."

Nothing happened for a moment, two, then-

"Mal, duck!" One boot had landed neatly in her outstretched hand but the other had come flying at her head, inches from striking her temple before she ducked her head, and sailed past her and hit the tree by Ben.

"That was… Close to what I intended."

"Maybe try with one object next time," he said and stooped to hand her the second boot.

"I'll keep that in mind." Her head ducked down, busied herself in pulling her laces tight. "You should be heading back. Someone's bound to be missing their prince."

"There are plenty of princes in Auradon," Ben said. "They're not going to notice one gone."

"None of those princes are the future king." He winced, that's what it always came down to. He'd always be _King_ Ben before just being himself. Even to someone like Mal.

"They don't noticed as much as you think they might." He moved into step beside her when she started walking back towards the school. "No one will miss me for a half hour at least, I'm expected at tourney practice." He lifted a low handing branch from her path and caught her eyes a moment when she glanced at him. "Want to come watch? If you like it, Lonnie's been trying to get a girls team running. You're really fast, you'd be good at it."

"No," she said quickly and he tried not to take it personally. It must have shown, on his face or his posture or maybe something she could sense. "I have to go… study. With Evie. Goodness class, it's all really new to us. Lots to learn."

And if it sounded a little forced, he decided not to mention it.

"It'll get easier, it won't always be new. I bet," he said with a grin, nudging her in the side with his elbow and internally preening when she didn't pull away. "That you won't even have to take it next semester."

"No I don't think we'll need it by then."

They breeched the treeline and something pulled at his shoulders, his heart, longing to run back into the forest. He squared his shoulder, straightened his jacket and took a deep breath; ignoring the sharp look he got from Mal.

Back to real life.

"Well you know where I'll be, if…" If you want to come remind me that I'm still me, even if I'm surrounded by humans. "If you have any questions. Or if Evie does."

"Of course. We'll come find you. If we need you."


End file.
